Four Unbeaten Easton Teams To Be Saluted Scholastic Football

September 29, 1988|by TED MEIXELL, The Morning Call

The 1988 Easton High School football team may or may not be unbeaten when it hosts Freedom at Cottingham Stadium next Saturday night; the 4-0 Red Rovers will first have to survive a stern test against similarly-unbeate n Bethlehem Catholic in Bethlehem tomorrow night.

One way or the other, though, there will be a whole bunch of Rovers on hand that night for Homecoming Day festivities who have experienced first hand the thrill of going unbeaten - for an entire season.

The highlight of Easton's Homecoming weekend will be an appearance by members (coaches, players, trainers and cheerleaders) of the school's four previous unbeaten teams - those from the 1958, 1967, 1968 and 1978 seasons.

The four teams will be honored during halftime of the Easton-Freedom game as well as at a postgame (10 p.m.-2 a.m.) banquet at the Hotel Easton. Fred Anderson, sports director at radio station WEST-AM from 1968 through 1977, will emcee the halftime ceremonies and share the emcee duties with current WEST sports director Dick Hammer at the banquet.

The banquet, incidentally, is open to the public at $15 per person. Tickets for the affair may be purchased at the Bob Rute Memorial Fieldhouse.

The 1958 squad, many of whose players compiled a three-year (1958-1960) career record of 27-2-1, boasted a spotless 9-0-0 record. That club was famed for its "United Nations" backfield, with Terry Bartolet at quarterback, Bill Houston and either Charlie Weaver or Dave Cooper at halfbacks and Pete Americus at fullback. Bartolet, now a noted orthopaedic surgeon in his home town, and Houston, now a member of Easton's City Council, are among the many expected to return for next week's festivities.

The 1967 and 1968 squads paced Easton to a three-year mark of 28-1-1 from 1966 through 1968, with the 1967 team going 9-0-1 and the 1968 club a perfect 10-0-0. Among the 1967 alumni expected back are Daryl Woodring and Phil Noto, while Rich Lehr, Joe Parsons, Gary Bond and Barry Snyder are expected to represent the 1968 team.

The 1978 Red Rovers, who went 10-0-1 to spark a three-year (1977-1979) record of 28-4-1, will probably be represented by Bill Rambo, Bill Houston (yes, he's the son of the 1958 Bill Houston!) and Lyndell Jones, among others.

Coaches who are expected to be on hand to take a few bows include current Wilson head coach Wayne "Knobby" Grube, Gene Jani, Joe Ortelli and (the elder) Bill Houston.

The two pivotal games for the 1958 team were a 19-13 victory over Allentown and a 26-6 Thanksgiving Day victory over Phillipsburg, which had also come into play unbeaten. Bartolet's touchdown pass to Weaver with less than a minute to play gave the Rovers the win over the Canaries, while a 20- point second-half rally sank the Stateliners.

Highlights of the 1967 season included a 20-0 win over Dieruff and a 34-14 victory over Pennsbury. It is interesting to note that, in beating Dieruff, Easton's coaching legend, Bobby Rute, earned the decision over Husky head coach "Jeep" Bednarik, who had been his line coach during the unbeaten 1958 season. The Rovers tallied 20 points in the second half against Pennsbury to break away from a 14-14 halftime tie and earn the championship of the old Big Seven Conference.

The only blemish on the 1967 team's record was a 0-0 tie with P'burg in the final game coached by both Rute and Stateliner legend Harold Bellis.

Grube took over at the helm in 1968 - and the two keys to the Rovers' perfect slate were 27-13 and 13-12 wins over Dieruff and Pennsbury, respectively.

Against a powerful Dieruff club which, led by star quarterback Ross Moore, also came into the fray unbeaten, the Rovers broke away from a 6-6 halftime deadlock to give Grube his first "big" win before 16,000 fans in Allentown School District Stadium. The Pennsbury game, before 13,000 fans at Cottingham, was billed as Pennsylvania's "Super Bowl." Easton eked out the win when Bob Pilz scored on a double reverse to emerge as the top-ranked high school team in the state (Pennsbury wound up fourth).

In 1978, the critical wins were by 26-21 over Bethlehem Catholic and 14-7 over P'burg. In the Becahi game, which, incidentally, featured Homecoming festivities to fete the Rovers' first three unbeaten clubs, Easton stopped the Golden Hawks at their own two-yard line as the final gun sounded to preserve victory. In another interesting sidelight to that game, a seven-year old youngster named Brook Mellman ran a football the length of the field as part of the halftime ceremonies. Mellman, now 17, is a standout wingback/defensive back for coach Bob Shriver's 1988 Easton team.

The 1978 Rovers protected their unbeaten season on Thanksgiving Day by driving for a touchdown very late in the game to overcome a 7-6 deficit.